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Breaking News

Published on March 26, 2001.

Comedy Central laughs

all the way to new site

Starting next month, Comedy Central will begin to add new features to its comedycentral.com Web site, as it rolls out a redesign that uses more original content-such as a feature that tallies how much time each visitor "wastes" on the site per visit-and also will post more content that closely weds the cable channel to the online venture. The site will soon offer extended clips from the parody news program "The Daily Show" and offer fresher original content from that show's staff. It will also include more user-generated content such as a "Joke of the Day" and other programs where users can serve as virtual comedy writers on Web-only programming.

Avenue A drives ROI road with Vital Signs product

Online media company Avenue A today launches Vital Signs, a new analysis tool that combines customer and shopping data, and behavior data with digital marketing data. The company said that the product will help advertisers measure the profitability of the customers that they reach online, by answering questions such as which online media drives new vs. repeat customers, and which parts of sites might benefit from being redesigned.

Consumer electronics retailer Best Buy beta-tested the technology, measuring what parts of its Web site were most efficient at driving revenue, and the cost of customer acquisition.

Company launches new large panel data service

This week's PC Forum in Scottsdale, Ariz., will serve as the launching pad for Plurimus Corp., a new company that will draw data from 3.5 million Internet users, one of the largest data pools on the Internet. The company, which worked closely with the Online Privacy Alliance's Christine Varney to ensure that its methodology not use any personally identifiable data, said it is working with 50 ISPs to create a random sample that represents the total Internet audience. Beta customers are Amazon.com, Sharper Image and REI.

Although the sample is kept anonymous by filtering all data and stripping it of personal information by a third party before it reaches Plurimus, the technology gives each person in the sample a geographical code that can recognize behavior down to individual Census blocks. Therefore, the company said that it will be able to run ongoing intelligence of consumer behavior on a very deep level, and also track click-stream data that is more detailed than what is currently available. Investors in the company include ABS Ventures/ DB Alex Brown, IBM and MapInfo.